Together
by The Noble French Fry
Summary: Things between them are perfect... The only problem is that they have to keep it all a secret. [series of SPARKY! drabbles]
1. Morning

**Title: Morning**

**Rating: G (K)**

**Pairing: Sparky (John/Elizabeth)**

**Archived: here, Command Dynamics, SG Challenges, the Sparky LiveJournal community**

**Genres: Romance/Fluff, Drabble**

**Description: As she slowly comes to waking, she instantly becomes aware of the sound against one of her ears: the steady beat of a heart.**

**A/N: Well, it's my second Sparky drabble, so sweet and soft... I might continue it in the future, if inspiration strikes and I get a good response. Anyway, enjoy and review.

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**Morning**

As she slowly comes to waking, she instantly becomes aware of the sound against one of her ears: the steady beat of a heart. Its rhythm is soothing and she feels so inexplicably at ease. Pressing against the side of her face is his chest, rising and falling in a slow pattern as he breathes. That gentle motion causes her head to slightly ascend and descend as well, but the movement does not bother her. It too is comforting.

She doesn't even open her eyes, but simply lies there and sighs with content.

Obviously, he isn't sleeping like she thought, because she hears him laugh lightly, causing his chest to bobble. "Happy, Mrs. Sheppard?" he asks, running a hand over the top of her head.

He can't see her smile, but she smiles anyway. "Yes, John." But as she opens her eyes, the inevitable encroaches on her thoughts as it always does. "And no," she continues with an exasperated sigh. "It's hard hiding our relationship, and it gets harder all the time. Especially since we got married."

She can feel his arms sliding around her body, one lying down her back, and the other around her middle. "I know; I want to tell the world I married the best woman in two galaxies, but then I remember I can't."

The smile that immediately comes to her face also goes unseen by her husband, but she is pretty sure he knows it is there. "At least we have each other," she says. "I love you, John."

She feels the soft kiss he places on the top of her head, and it sends warmth throughout her body. "I love you too, Liz."


	2. Hidden

**Thanks to all of your lovely reviews, this is being continued. I think I probably won't do a whole bunch of pieces to it, but at least there will be a few more of these pretty little Sparky drabbles for you to read. :)****

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**Hidden**

There is no fancy dress for her to hold onto and love to pieces. No special white silk and lace dress with a flowing train like she pictured as a little girl, no unique memento dress hidden away in a box for years from that day. There can't be one. Her wedding was secret.

Sighing, she closes her eyes against the tears that want to come when she thinks that. It somehow manages to stab her in a deep part of her heart she didn't even know could feel when she thinks of the fact she has no wedding dress.

But she's slowly getting over it. Realizing the dress isn't important, the spouse, the relationships and the memories are.

Besides, at least she has a ring.

The simple, glimmering gold ring is always with her, a constant reminder of that secret ceremony. But it can't sit on her left hand; that would just give everything away. Instead, she wears it on her right hand, where it looks simply decorative.

John always carries his along too, keeping it as hidden as their relationship. The gold ring is on a chain that is always around his neck, right alongside his military dog tags. And the way the chain lays, he says it's always close to his heart.

And to Elizabeth, their special methods of wearing the rings make up for the lack of a big ceremony and the absence of a special dress. Because when you really get down to it, it's the love that matters.

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** Now review! **


	3. Relaxing by the Sea

**Relaxing by the Sea**

On its shimmery surface, her reflection stares back with the same intensity with which she stares at it. Absently she wonders how the sight of such a vast body of rippling water works this wonder on her soul, calming her as it does. Just such a simple sight has the largest effect on the stress that builds during her demanding week. And, she wonders, why. It wasn't like this before she lived on Atlantis; back then she couldn't have cared less about the water.

Still wondering, she slides her bare feet down into the salt water as it laps against the dock, sighing in content. The ripples that result from her interruption of the ocean's glassy surface distort the reflection that appears, but they don't hide it.

"Hey there," he greets softly, kneeling beside her. "Rough day?"

She merely nods.

Though they carefully guard their secret and it may not be safe even here, he turns and lightly plants a kiss on the top of her head. Despite her feet in the cold water, her body warms at his touch.

Closing her eyes, she figures it will always be like this: though the waters may calm and soothe her, there is fire in her heart whenever he is near.


	4. Fear

_Thank you so much for the reviews, everybody! Keep 'em coming, I'm an addict. Sorry I didn't post this sooner... was having technical difficulties. (glares at FF staff)._

Challenge: #3: fear (+ dark) of sgchallenges

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**Fear**

Constant is his fear that their secret will be discovered. Always it nags at the back of his mind, telling him that nothing stays hidden for long.

At least his fears have ground: if ever this secret got out into the open, both of them would likely lose their jobs as the leaders of Atlantis. And neither of them really thought they could stand that: losing their home.

And so he lives with the fear that their precious secret may find its way out into the open. He doesn't let her know how he worries, of course. Why should he bother her with his probably worthless fears?

What he doesn't know is that she knows. She can see what he worries for, and when he's wearing himself down with those cares. She doesn't let him know that she knows either. No need to add to his load.

He fears enough on his own.

But when she smiles, the dark shadow of fear is banished from his thoughts and his heart. Just her face lights up the corners that his fright darkens, and he forgets those worries when she's around.

All she has to do is speak, and he knows that even if their secret is ruined some day, they'll be all right. She seems not to worry, and so he decides he won't either.

But he doesn't know that her seemingly worriless look is really just a façade for his benefit. He doesn't know that fear's shadow holds her heart as well.


	5. Close to the Heart

**Challenge: discovery**

**A/N: Okay, it's here... the end of this story... Hope you enjoy it as much as you have previous chapters!

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**Close to the Heart**

It's only the thousandth time something like this has happened. He's gone missing, again. Just disappeared, no word. Everyone else is back, but he's still missing. It's not the first time, or even close: he always seems to be doing this. But, for some reason, she has this feeling that he's not going to make some miraculous return this time.

So, in his absence, the secret comes out. She doesn't know how or why, but she just starts crying and the secret just spills from her lips as she heartbrokenly fingers her ring. Who first heard it, she doesn't remember. But whoever did spreads it to the whole city.

Almost no one in Atlantis is surprised at the news.

At that, she is greatly astonished. Were their efforts to keep it hidden so transparent?

It seems that to almost all of Atlantis, they were. But when news leaks out further, to Colonel Caldwell and then the crew of the _Daedelus_, there are amused whispers that she sometimes manages to silence with her stare. On the inside, she's torn and yet freed knowing that her secret isn't so secret anymore.

And she hopes it doesn't make it all the way back to Stargate Command.

And then all of a sudden, out of absolutely nowhere, he's back.

Her premonitions are wrong, and he has returned miraculously yet _again_.

Needless to say he's surprised as she flies into his arms and kisses him eagerly in front of everyone. He attempts to make excuses to all who are watching, until she tells him it's useless; they already know.

He's not happy about that.

Less than a week later after long debates and lectures, they're through with the messy aftermath of the leak, and they've escaped just barely complete. Luckily, they're considered so crucial to the Atlantis mission that they're allowed to keep their jobs.

They both get an earful, but, to their utter relief, they're allowed to stay as they are.

Except that their marriage is no longer secret.

The secret's out; it's been discovered.

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"You know," he says, "this is a good thing."

She nods slowly. "It is. We knew it wouldn't stay hidden forever." She pulls the golden band off of her right hand's ring finger and gently slides it onto her left where it should be. "We don't have to hide anymore." She inspects the ring's new position and smiles as she decides it looks much, much better there.

He agrees with her words with a nod of his head, then takes the hand she's examining and lightly touches it to his lips.

She sighs contentedly before she realizes he's not taking his ring from its hidden place.

"Aren't you going to put your ring on your finger, John?" she asks.

He shakes his head, and takes her hand—that he's still holding—and places it on his chest. Through his shirt, she can feel the ring's round shape where it sits on his military tags. But she can also feel the steady beat of his heart on her fingertips.

He's reminding her once again that the way it is, the ring's closer to his heart this way.

"You know," he says, "I don't think I will. I like it just where it is."

**THE END**


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